You Can't Cut the Rose - attempt 2
by hellomynameisphoebe
Summary: Lissa and Rose ran away from St Vladamir's Academy to escape knowledge, only to be pursued by it while on the run. When they get caught and shipped back, things go wrong and the pair get separated. How will they cope being apart? And how will their past catch up to them, for the better and the worse.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey Guys, this is my second attempt at this story. This chapter is very much the same as the old one, except with Dimitri and I rewrote bits of it. It will get more different from next chapter onwards though. Read and enjoy, and I'd love it if you guys could review and give me some feedback!**

**Chapter 1**

I felt her fear before I heard her scream. Blood, tangled metal and the bodies of her family replaced my dream. I had been at the beach, laughing along with some hot guys when I had felt it. It had drawn me into her nightmare; I felt the pain and the horror along with her. It was a familiar scene, but it terrified her all the same.

"Lissa! Wake up! You're not there!" I bolted to her side, shaking her gently awake. My voice was soothing, a tone I reserved only for her. "Lissa!"

"Andre!" she moaned. I had to wake her. "Oh God!"

"Liss!" I spoke louder. She was beginning to awaken.

"Rose… I had that dream again." She told me, shaking. There were thick black bags under her eyes, owing to the nightmares how weak she was getting.

"I know." I told her softly. "When was the last time we did a feeding?"

I couldn't remember the last time I had given her my blood. It explained why she was so weak; why the nightmare had almost overcome her.

We sat in silence, as she tried to make an excuse. She hated hurting me; seeing me weak in exchange for her strength. But she knew that I would do what I needed to keep her alive and well, despite her reservations.

"Umm, Friday? You were busy and needed your strength…" She tried to reason. It was Tuesday, she had gone 5 day without blood. That was nearly unheard-of for a Moroi, a royal especially.

I leant my head forward, coaxing her to bite into the soft flesh of my neck. Even without the bond you could have seen the bloodlust take over as she bit into my skin.

I have to lock my jaw down to keep from screaming, my teeth breaking through the soft flesh of my lower lip.

The pain was excruciating, before the ecstasy took over. I reveled in the pain, while hating the pleasure the endorphins brought me. It was a weakness I couldn't completely. She broke the contact almost immediately and took only enough blood that she felt stronger.

I felt a goofy grin on my face from the endorphins. I sat, trying to shake the bliss they brought me as well as the fatigue the blood loss brought.

"I'm going to get you some food." Lissa told me, her skin beginning to turn a familiar shade of red.

Or roommates cat, Jeremy jumped onto the windowsill, glaring at me. He seemed to hate me, but adored Lissa so we had a mutual relationship – he made Lissa happy so I let him be; and he liked Lissa's stroking. We had rented a room with him for the past month, thinking that we would be safer close to a large population of people.

It was then that I saw them. They hid clumsily behind a tree, 6 or so large men. It was clear from Jeremy's distaste that they weren't just ordinary humans creepily watching us, but dhampirs. They were close enough to see what Lissa and I had just done, especially with their enhanced eyesight. How could I be so stupid? Why had I not spared a glance out the window before I fed Lissa?

Grabbing shoes and our wallets, I rushed down to kitchen to find Lissa cutting a sandwich in half. She smiled at me, handing me half the sandwich. I wolfed it down, while Lissa realized what was going on.

"There not, no." She stuttered, before turning to me. "What do we do?"

"Get the keys. We have to go. NOW!" I told her, she knew what to do, we'd done this before.

"What? Why do you want my keys?" Jeremy stumbled into the room, obviously drunk.

Easy, I thought.

"Jeremy, we need your keys." Lissa compelled Jeremy, her voice soothing and believable. Jeremy reached into her pocket, withdrew his keys and handed them to Lissa. "And where is it parked?"

"The corner by Brown, two blocks over" Jeremy spoke dreamily.

"Thank you! Forget you saw us tonight. And go to bed." Lissa ordered as she pulled on her shoes and I pulled her out the door.

From there we ran, as fast as we could. I pulled Lissa along behind me, and through the bond I could feel her pushing herself to the limit. Nearing Brown, I could hear guardians on our trail.

3 stepped out before us, forming an arrow around the car. I recognized one as Stan Alto, a guardian I had particularly hated while at the academy. I was glad to have an opportunity to kick his ass.

I stopped, jerking Lissa behind me as I stepped in front in a defensive stance. Stan smiled cockily at me, he seemed to think he'd one. He stepped forward.

"Now, now Rose. Come back willingly and we won't have to hurt you." He said, the rest of the guardians were closing in around us now. There were 12 in total. Reaching back, I tied by hair in a pony tail. I wouldn't let my hair be the cause of our capture, also, I thought it would be a great time to show off my 4 molnija marks.

Along the way, we had found an dhampir who had been trained to draw the marks, but was independent of the guardians, a vigilante you could call him. He saw me kill the strigoi, and therefore, decided that I deserved the marks that go with killing one.

I heard a sharp intake of breath behind me, they had clearly caught site of my marks. I smirked, slowly leading Lissa towards the car.

That was when I saw them. The ghosts. The took the shapes of people, dead people. I saw Lissa's family- a disturbing reminder of the draw I had witnessed early in the evening. There were others, too. Each was sad, the seemed to call me too them, calling me into death. No one else could see them, I faced them alone. Lissa seemed to sense my feelings, this had happened before.

Just as Stan tensed to strike, another guardian stepped forward. He was tall – 6'6 or taller and well built. He was hot; it just wasn't the time to muse about his looks. He glanced at Stan sharply, telling to halt his attack while I remained defensive.

Noticing my distraction, Stan made a move at me, dodging around the tall dhampir and ignoring his look. He didn't get far though, I struck out at him, taking him by surprised as he landed on his ass. The pain began in my head. I felt myself lose my muscle control as my body was dominated by the pain.

"Rose?" Lissa pleading.

I feel to my knees, though I never felt the impact. Before I blacked out though, I swear I heard Lissa scream.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hey guys, from here this story should differ more from my other version. Sorry, last chapter was still very similar to the original :/. Remember to please review and give any feedback! :) **

I awoke to the click of seatbelt buckles and the sensuous smell of aftershave. The man who had stepped forward ahead of Stan in the car park now sat beside me. His shoulder-length brown locks hung straight with his head cocked slightly, studying me and his brown eyes stared into mine.

"Are you alright?" he asked me, his voice held an accent from somewhere Eastern European. "You… fainted back there. Are you feeling stronger? Would you like something to eat?"

"Uh, yeah. To both." I replied, "Thank you, but who are you?"

"I'm Guardian Belikov from St Basil's Academy in Russia" he replied, pressing the 'call attendant' button on his armrest.

_Russia_, I thought. It explained the accent. I had been there once before on a holiday with Lissa's family before the accident. Her mother, I was told had Russian heritage.

While there, Lissa and I had made a few friends; one of which I'd become particularly close to. We hadn't done anything, we'd both been very young and he was three years my senior. His name was Dimitri, and we'd been practically inseparable – except when it came to Lissa and Dimitri's friend Ivan who I could have sworn she had something going on with, although to this day she still denies it.

In looks, Guardian Belikov reminded me a lot of Dimitri; especially his eyes. But maybe that's just how all Russian are.

The flight attendant came a moment later, curtly asking Belikov what he needed. She left shortly thereafter with the promise of bringing nutritious, tasty snacks to help me feel better.

"So why are you here?" I interrogated him, "Looking for Liss and me?"

"After the recent strigoi attacks in the area, the academy was reluctant to leave the academy short so many guardians. So they requested the aid of us; we have a surplus at the academy at the moment, especially with the senior novices. Besides, the princess' life – and your own – is valuable."

There had been a fair few strigoi attacks near Lissa and I too, but to hear that they'd been so close to our friends who were supposed to be safe in the academy was quite shocking – especially since its in the middle of nowhere. I sat there, thinking silently of the all the possible bad scenarios involving strigoi.

The flight attendant came then, handing me a bottle of water and a packet of chips before proceeding to offer around similar things to the rest of the passengers.

"What you did, Rose, was very brave – protesting Vasilissa like that –"

"Lissa," I interjected, "call her Lissa"

Lissa had always hated how posh and pretentious Vasilissa sounded, so instead had preferentially used her Americanised nickname. She herself hated to be rude, so I had over the course of our friendship grown used to correcting people in her stead.

"Stupid," Belikov continued, "But very brave"

"And you don't even know the half it," I laughed bitterly, "She had to leave that place."

"Why?" He asked simply.

It was a simple question, but I was struck wondering how one might ever that question.

"She's practically my sister, and it just wasn't right for her. We had to leave."

He nodded, seemingly accepting what I said and understanding that I would say no more. He stood then, perhaps to interrogate Lissa for more about why she left. I knew she wouldn't tell, though I hoped he didn't distress her in the process. I watched his tall figure gracefully toward the tail of the plane where I knew Lissa sat awkwardly by Stan.

* * *

I could feel the distress and discomfort coming of Lissa as she sat next to Stan. He was obviously feeling very cocky about finally tracking the pair of us. It seemed that being one of the ones sent to track us down was making him too big for his boots, and the fact that they actually caught us seemed to fulfill his years of inadequacy. Maybe now he'd be a nicer teacher.

Before I knew it, I felt myself being entirely pulled into Lissa's body, rather than just musing with her thoughts. Her hand was clenched around the lid of the water bottle that the flight attendant had handed around earlier. Her hands were red from the stress of her tight grasp. Her eyes were fixed upon her hand, so she didn't notice the silent but deadly exchange between Stan and Belikov until Belivok sat beside her with a thud.

"Are you alright Princess?" he asked with genuine concern. "I'm Guardian Belikov"

By this time, I was no longer stunned by being in Lissa's body and was able to focus my mind on my own body – the feel of my hands resting on each other, the cotton of my top and the feel of my phone in the pocket of my shorts. I hated when I was in her body – I felt so weak, being unable to control her actions, when they felt like they should be my own.

I blinked profusely and flexed my fingers, happy to be in control once more. Stan now sat where Belikov had previously, smirking as though he were a young child who knew my deepest, darkest secret and was about to tell.

"I see you got some molnijia marks tattooed on while you were on the run. What did you tell the human they were?" Stan asked accusingly, "How did you even get them nearly accurate?"

I didn't reply to his accusation, choosing to glare at him instead. Stan was petty and pathetic, all because he had never been assigned a moroi to guard; something only the worst of graduates faced; or at least that's what everybody thought had happened. But you know what they say – those who can't do, teach.

"That is pathetic, Hathaway. " he continued, his tone more venomous than before. "This is our _duty _to the moroi, and these marks are a symbol of our –."

I couldn't tolerate his rant any longer, so I cut him off coolly. "You have one elemental flaw in that logic, _Stan._ A dhampir did these."

I narrowed my eyes as Stan, momentarily surprised by my statement glared. Instead of hiding this well under a blank face, like a good guardian did, he let this show along with the other emotions on his face.

"Typical Rosemarie Hathaway. Lying to avoid the shame. What Dhampir would ever give such marks of honour and glory to an undisciplined, talentless girl like yourself?" He cackled manically, thinking he'd caught me out.

"Jason Derek" with two words, I seemed to have frozen Stan in his tracks. His face turned from anger now into rage.

"How dare you taint his name?!" He roared. "He died years ago protecting the Moroi in battle and you know it!"

**Remember to review, and I'll hopefully update faster :)**


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